Hey Duck
by emrys-knight
Summary: The team goes after a prominent part of an enemy operation. Clay doesn't go unscathed.


The rain beat on the metal roof of the ops center. The satisfying sound filled the space, mildly calming the stressed operatives. The room was full of noises, ambushing the ear from all directions. Keys on keyboards, rain on the roof, whispers, papers rustling. Jason, Sonny, Clay, Ray, Brock and Cerberus made their way to the main area, where Davis, Blackburn and Mandy planned on briefing the SEALs.

"Who's birthday party are we crashing, today?" Sonny's humorous tone didn't impress the higher-ups, which was evident as they continued on with the briefing.

Mandy pressed a button on her tablet, sending the picture up to the television screen in full view for all in the room.

"Azzam Nahas?" Ray crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. He looked over to Sonny with a questioning stare.

Sonny shrugged before speaking up. "Y'all serious? I had t' rain check my date with a case of beer for this? For some lawyer from some podunk town in the middle of nowhere?"

"You're a fantastic operative but a crap listener, you know that?" Clay laughed. He motioned to Amanda to continue.

"Because he's 'only a lawyer', his boss, Hakim Fadil trusts him and tells him everything. You know him, right, Quinn? Hakim Fadil? One of the most famous enemies of the United States..." Davis' tone made the SEAL team laugh while Sonny shrugged it off.

"Wheels up at o' eight hundred. Be ready." Mandy walked behind Sonny's chair. "And we'd prefer it if you were _not_ hammered from Clay's cases of beer."

"You'd _prefer_ it or you're _ordering_ it? Your answer will get you different results, you know." Brock teased.

"Just be ready." Blackburn left the room, trying to keep his professional facade in place while keeping his laughter down.

::::::

The trucks rolled through the back roads in the empty, stretching deserts of the middle-east. Birds flew by, squawking, alerting all who could hear of their presence.

"Hey, can we stop for just a sec, I gotta pee." Ray looked to Jason who called over the comms and the trucks soon stopped. Clay looked around at everyone, attempting to get an answer for his not-yet-asked question.

"So I ask to stop for a bathroom break and it's a no but Bravo 2 asks and suddenly the carriages stop for the princess bride?"

"Pretty much, kid. Good news is: you're a dude. Pee in a damn bottle and suck it up." Sonny teased. He squinted for a moment. "Don't suck up the pee. I was kinda scared you'd do it."

"Y'know, Sonny," Clay's tone came across in a playfully irritated tone. "Just because you would and have done something, doesn't mean anyone else would or has."

"I should smack you right up the side of your-"

"Guys, shut-up and let's go." Ray climbed back into the vehicle and they continued on before Brock saw a duck near a small pond out the window.

"Hey, duck! Y' no good, duck!" Brock laughed.

"You'll never be _shit_!" Sonny joined in.

"Y' just. Like. Ya fatha!" Clay couldn't help but add. Every operative in the vehicle erupted into laughter. It was truly the calm before the storm.

:::::

"It all happened so fast!" That's what they all say but dammit if it isn't true. The bullets flew and the sparks burned bright against the darkness that threatened to swallow Bravo whole. The team maneuvered through the thick forests, taking cover behind the widest trees they could find.

"This is Bravo one to TOC." Jason continued to fire at Nahas' bodyguards.

"Bravo one, go for TOC." Blackburn paced the room, hoping to hear positive updates. Davis couldn't fly a drone over, given the fact that it would be useless.

"Do you have a visual on Bravo six?" Jason's tone sounded far too worried for comfort.

"No drones, Bravo one. Where's Bravo six?" Blackburn stopped pacing, to lean on the table with his palms flush against the wood.

"Don't know. We heard a scream a minute ago and no-one's seen him, since."

"TOC for Bravo." Mandy interrupted.

"Bravo one." Jason checked in.

"Bravo two." Ray.

"Bravo three." Sonny.

"Bravo four." Brock.

"Bravo five." Trent.

A moment passes and the gunfire comes to a screeching halt as all of the hostiles are taken out and none but the team are left.

"TOC for Bravo six." Blackburn called out through the comms.

"Bravo seven." Derek. At least the other six were well enough to answer.

"Repeat: TOC for Bravo six."

Silence.

" _Repeat:_ _TOC for Bravo_ _six_." The silence was haunting. Finally, Davis managed to work her way into the workings of Clay's comm, and triggered the connection. Nothing but pained, shallow breathing was heard.

"TOC for Bravo six." Davis had a begging tone. "Please respond."

All that was heard was what sounded like desperate gasps for air.

"Guys, you've gotta find him. He doesn't sound so good."

The team rushed throughout the woods, looking for their injured operative while the assisting team took care of the dead hostiles.

:::::

The bullet ripped through the first layer of Clay's vest and sunk into the kevlar, forcing his ribs into a break. His breathing became intensely painful. The team moved on while he attempted to recover from the GSW, though it was far easier said than done. Clay tried to get up, to advance, but, with every movement he made, his ribs adjusted inside of him, grinding up against each other, and he nearly lost the last bit of food he'd had in his stomach. The gag reflex moved his ribs, making it harder to keep things down. He started to speak into his comms before an enemy combatant rushed him with a knife in hand. Before Clay could react, his gun was flying away from him, and the knife was nearly at his throat.

"Geez!" Clay dodged the slashes the enemy made at him. He got the guy in a chokehold, taking the knife out of his hand and trying to stab him with it. The combatant struggled, elbowing Clay in the ribs, causing them to shift into his left lung, puncturing the tissue and gaining a cry of pain, heard by the rest of Bravo.

The combatant sprung to his feet. Clay flinched while the small knife he'd once gained control of was nearly thrown at his face, before the enemy was killed by a stray bullet, answering Clay's quick prayers. Everything felt fine until he started to feel a tightness in his chest, making it difficult… no… _impossible_ to breathe. He heard the sounds of his comm glitching then TOC. He wanted so badly to respond. To beg for help. Maybe not beg. He's a SEAL after all. Actually, no. Beg was a great word because he really couldn't breathe and he was starting to freak out.

He did nothing but gasp for air, the sound wretched in the ears of his team.

:::::

"Clay!" Ray rushed to the side of the youngest operative, seeing the blood on the blond's lips. "Guys, this is bad. Get Derek over here." Derek kneeled down with his med bag, examining Clay's damaged form as best he could.

"Haemothorax is a definite. No chance for intubation and exfil, so we'll have to settle for a chest tube. When we get him on the chopper, I should be able to do more." He started to work on Clay, inserting the tube in the blond's chest cavity and hooking it up to a small machine. "Alright let's move." Trent picked up the young one, and carried him throughout the rest of the time that it took to get to exfil.

The winds of the rotors of the helo blew violently on Clay's tube, eliciting a painful groan.

"I know, buddy." Jason helped pull him onto the aircraft, allowing space for the others.

"First time getting shot with Bravo. Case of beer!" Sonny half-joked.

"Dude." Brock pet Cerberus, who barked. Clay had a hand on the pup's back, feeling every hair, calming him. Pain meds would have been great in that moment. Just a little morphine, maybe some delotin.

:::::

The EKG beeped rapidly and suddenly, startling the SEALs. They all stood, looking towards Clay in his hospital bed.

"The hell?" Sonny crossed his arms as he watched Clay flinch in his sleep. They all looked with deepest sympathies while the SEAL was choked by his nightmare. Sonny decided it was enough, and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, bud, you gotta wake up. The lady's husband came home."

"What in the absolute _Hell_ does that mean?" Brock looked like someone had just spoken in a newfound language and he wasn't having any of it.

"It's time to leave. Get out." Sonny looked around to the other confused-looking SEALs and decided to drop it. When he turned back, he saw Clay's brow furrow. "There ya are. Nice seein' ya, kid. Couldn't let y' die. You owe us a case of beer!"

"Dude." Ray backhanded Sonny in the shoulder. "How're you feeling, man?"

"Like a kebab. Had something stuck in my side…" Clay lay a gentle hand on his bandage where his chest tube used to be.

"And still delicious?" Stella laughed. She crawled in the bed, next to him.

"Exactly." Clay gave her a quick kiss on the forehead while she curled into his hold.

"I'd say that's disgusting, but I've seen the blood from the inside of your chest so I think I'm okay." Derek half-joked. Everyone shared a laugh before Clay abruptly stopped, pressing a button for some pain medication. Cerberus jumped on the bed, laying by Clay's feet and earning an aw from everyone in the room. He let out a small awoo, assuming they were all trying to get him to.


End file.
